How can it be possible that I would leave a job I LOVE after 25 years?

The fact is that I have always liked to be ahead of the curve and today’s customers are rewarding evolving dealerships that offer true Online Deal Creation with real perfect payment – where all that is left is the test drive. Don’t believe this can be done? Well, I am convinced that it can…

What used car shoppers are looking for most of all is peace of mind. As a dealer, you should be educating your staff, and marketing your vehicles, to deliver that peace of mind. The fact that you spend internal dollars reconditioning trade-ins and from-the-auction inventory should not be withheld from today’s consumers. If anything, sharing this information with them can help improve both your merchandising efforts and customer confidence in their purchase…

Written by AutoSuccess on 09 December 2014.

This article was written byJoe Basil and was originally published on the NCM Institute Up to Speed blog. 

As the great recession started to unfold in 2008 and 2009, gasoline prices rose above four dollars a gallon, the banking and housing industry began to collapse, unemployment rose and auto sales fell off the charts. Those dealerships that came…

Having just finished a morning plyometric workout (and still "huffing and puffing" like an old steam engine), I sat down at my console where an AUTOMOTIVE NEWS alert was waiting for me.  I clicked away and found an article titled, "The Sales Game Has Changed..."

This article has multiple…

Who owns the customers?  Where do your employees work?  Are prospects even being called back?  Some dealers don’t know.  All because we allow some of our sales team members to do it their way.  You’re feeding into their problem. 

I’m asking you to ‘Just Say No’ to…

1)   Letting salespeople use their own personal email addresses when responding back to customers.

2)   Allowing salespeople to make all of their (so-called) follow-up calls to happen from their…

I just came back from NADA in Orlando, FL, which was a great show. However, with all the wonderful things I ran into at the show, I honestly think that one of the highlights was seeing U.S. Army Veteran and Automotive Sales Trainer Joe Verde make the winning bid of $26,000 on a 2011 Fat Boy Harley-Davidson motorcycle. You can view the video here: http://ow.ly/hIWub .The live auction event, sponsored by NADA and ADESA, was held to benefit…

What is for the good of the store is sometimes an unpopular choice for the employees. It requires them to do more than what they are currently doing.  It asks them to solve problems, take initiative, and complete more tasks.  It is very common that salespeople will care more about what is “in it for them” than what is in the best interest of the dealership.  At no point should a salesperson’s unwillingness to execute tasks supersede what is in the best interest of…

Disclaimer: I must preface this by saying it not intended to make any enemies or friends. This is not meant to hurt anyone’s business, call out how they perform for their clients, highlight weaknesses or put stock in one product over another. This was nothing more than a simple experiment.

I was out to dinner with my wife recently when I ran into an old college acquaintance. Very quickly I discovered that she works in our industry for a startup website provider. I tell her…

If Support…

• Responded with a call instead of silence
• Gave you immediate attention instead of a support ticket number
• Answered the phone immediately instead of a queue
• Has a queue, then you know something is desperately wrong
• Responded with action instead of a timeline
• Categorically ranked your need based on how much it is their fault and handled those first.
• Wasn’t overseas
• Is handled with grace and humility instead…

If you haven’t heard, there is a bit of political campaigning going on right now.  Candidates are using every medium of communication to engage potential voters.  They are using the social mediums, but, shockingly, that isn’t all they are using.  They are out stumping.  They are shaking hands and kissing babies.  They are standing behind podiums in public.  Are you campaigning for customers in the same way?  Not sleazy, like a politician, but publicly in the community?

It is…

Make sure to…

Once again, another dealership ruins it for the rest of us.  Recently, a customer in Anchorage Alaska was the winner of a 2009 Nissan GT-R on eBay Motors with a bid of $55,100.  Now, the dealer (Honda of San Marcos) is refusing to sell the vehicle to them.  The bugaboo:  It was a No-Reserve Auction.

This is another shining example of how a dealership participates in a platform without knowledge, training, or guidance, and gives our industry a black-eye.  The dealership is…

Before you begin recruiting, interviewing, or hiring for the position of Internet Manager/BDC/Internet Director, there are three crucial things you must do first.

1)  Determine the hierarchy of the store.  Who will this person, in a new department, be reporting to?  Often anyone from sales managers to salespeople believe they can delegate work to someone in the Internet department while the top stores usually have a director or GM as the only entity that presides over the…

I popped open my DealerKnows email this morning and saw that Google Analytics sent out a Benchmark Newsletter.  (See below).  If you recall, when signing up for your Google Analytics account, you were offered to "opt-in" to anonymous data-sharing with Google.  Well they've consolidated the data and are making some modifications to their standard benchmarking report.  The information is revealing, but how does the…

In a make believe world, If dE bought a dealership and we had these 6 Automotive Legends (in their prime) 

Who would be the Best Dealer? Why?

Jackie B. Cooper / Joe Verde / Jim Ziegler / Dave Anderson / David Lewis / Grant Cardone…

While speaking to a 20 Group last month, I was asked if transferring leads to the sales floor is the best way to manage online opportunities.  Simply put, I prefer an Internet department still to this day. I understand many are saying "disperse leads to the sales floor because all customers are internet shoppers anyway and they should be able to assist them". Here is the flaw... constructing well-worded replies without spelling errors and well-thought out responses with grammatically correct…

Baseball season is back in full swing. (See what I did there?  Yes, very cheesy, I know). And spring training for the teams is coming to an end.  They’ve spent well over a month preparing themselves and their minds for the day-to-day responsibilities that go along with a season of baseball.  Trainers, managers, and coaches get together to evaluate their personnel and to get them ready for action.  Several dealers do the very same when they seek out training for their team.



Dealers…